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Easy Steps to Exercise Routines for Family and Children
Starting your family or children on an exercise routine - one that will last - is the best way to get them in shape. Here's our guide to family fitness for beginners. The steps below show you how to build up a basic routine that it's easy to stick to, and easy to build upon as your fitness levels grow.
The secret to regular exercise
The secret to keeping up regular exercise - which most people fail at - is to set yourself 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on five (or more) days of the week. This means any activity through which you experience:
- an increase in your breathing rate
- an increase in your heart rate, to a point where you can feel your pulse
- feeling warm
How to achieve it
You can achieve your exercise target either by doing all the daily activity in one session or through several shorter bouts of activity of 10 minutes or more.
However, children and young people need to do 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity every day. This should include at least two weekly activities that produce high physical stress on bones, such as dancing, jumping or aerobics. This is important for aiding development.
Becuase it is so simple to get as much exercise as you need - as long as you are aware how much you need to get - you can start planning ways by which your family can get some, too.
Time planning
Establish whether you and your kids are more willing to exercise in the mornings, evenings, or during the day. For example, if your kids have school, or if you work, you won't be able to do anything during the day, but you may find that some exercise in the morning is the ideal start to a busy day.
Divide your time accordingly
If you decide to exercise in the mornings, perhaps think about doing a 20-minute run with the kids, and doing the rest in the evening.
Start gently
Your ability to keep going with physical activity, such as jogging, racket sports, cycling or swimming, is related to your aerobic fitness or stamina. Generally speaking, the greater your stamina, the greater the health benefits. If you want to improve your stamina, it's important to start gently, increasing how often you do activity before increasing how hard you exercise.
Begin by replacing 'time-saving' activities
During the weekdays, think about whether you could include the walk home from school (in place of a drive) or cycling to the shops (instead of driving). These will take up a huge portion of your 60 or 30 minute exercise period, without any changes in lifestyle.When you're used to doing things like these, increasing your exercise gradually won't feel so strenuous.
Write it down
When you have decided how to split up your time into easy-exercise chunks, write a daily planner that you can follow. If there are differences in your family's schedules, give everyone a separate row in the table. When you've completed the day's exercise, ticking it off the chart will feel really great.You could alsokeep an exercise diary, in which you can note how far you ran or the match score, your pulse rate or how you felt. That way you can look back and see how you have improved over time.
Join some organized sports
Knowing that you've got something to attend a couple of nights a week will keep you committed. These work especially well at the weekend, when you can participate for a longer period of time, without it sapping your few free evening minutes. Start slowly, though: only one night a week at first. If you rush in, you'll only tire yourself, and the kids, out. Nobody will want to go back for more. Slowly you can increase the number of nights you attend.
Stay motivated
Set yourself some short-term goals. Keep your goals specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based (SMART). For example, rather than saying you will get fit by summer, start by setting the more specific goal of going to a one-hour aerobics or yoga class each week. Getting your kids to set these goals for themselves is a brilliant way to raise their enthusiasm for exercise.
Stay focused
Try to keep reminding yourself - and your family - of the reasons you started exercising in the first place. This may include losing excess weight, improving your health or testing yourselves in a competition or race. But don't bully your loved ones into activities they don't want to do: just remind them of the dangers if they don't, and the huge benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Gradually increase your exercise
Take your activities like walking to the shops and attending organized sports, and do them more often. When you become bored, or when they feel too easy, up their intensity. Run to the shops, swim faster in the pool, or join a more advanced class in your chosen sport.
Related Articles:
If you're looking for information on family fitness, or how to change the lifestyle of your family or children, we think you'll like the following articles.
Family & Children: Why Get Them Fitter?
10 Secrets to a Healthy Family
